So I just went by the LHBS to pick up ingredients for my 2nd ever batch. My Dad is a big fan of Allagash White, and his birthday is in eight weeks, so I thought I'd make him something using a modified Allagash recipe.

LHBS didn't have a couple of the things, and since kumquats are in season, I decided to omit the orange peel and add some of those to primary (yes, I know it's a cliche beginner thing to do, but it's also one of the easier things to play around with while still brewing extracts). So here's the planned actual recipe with substitutions:

I was never expecting to make something that tastes exactly like Allagash White (or else I would've stuck with orange peel), but I'm still new at this and don't really know what the modifications will do. Kinda what to know what I'll be looking for. It looks to me like the wheat/barley balance is skewed a little too far in favor of barley (72.5/28.5 instead of 60/40), and the LHBS threw in Hallertauer because they were out of saaz. And obviously the kumquats are my own addition. I wasn't sure how much to add. The goal is enough to get the citrus character but not enough to just make this a fruit beer--I want a wit with some kumquat flavor, not a kumquat beer with a wit base.

Can anybody give me an idea of what I'll be looking at with the new recipe? Does it sound tasty, or should I make further modifications before brewing (which is planned for Saturday)?

1) Heat 1 3/4 gal of water to 155° F.
3) Put the grains (in a bag) in the water.
4) Turn off heat, cover, and let steep for 30 min.
5) Remove and drain grain bag completely.
6) Stir in 2 lbs malt extract and bring to a boil. (I have to add most at the end to avoid buring cause my water to sugar ratio is bad due to a small pot)
7) Add Amarillo hops and set timer for 60 min.
8) At 15 min remaining, add ½ the zest, 1 tbs crushed coriander, Saaz hops, and Irish moss.
9) At 10 min remaining, add the rest of the extract and wort chiller.
10) At 1 min remaining, add rest of coriander and zest.
11) At flame out, remove and drain hop bags.
12) Turn water on wort chiller to cool wort.
13) Add wort to fermenter.
14) Fill with water to 4 gallons.
15) Aerate for 3 min.
16) Pitch yeast
17) Top off to 5 gal and read OG.
18) Move downstairs, set on a plastic tray, and wrap in a wet T shirt. Add ice cubes to tray/on top fermenter. This kept me out of the 70s (approx. 64-68 as i had to keep adding ice).
19) I will go 1 week longer after hitting FG. It's day 6 today and SG is at 1010, but there's still foam on top. I'll check SG tomorrow again to see if it's changed.
20) Bottling day, boil priming sugar in a pint of water for 10 min and prime.
21) Wait 20 minutes. If necessary, then scoop out coriander floaters. (Oops! Maybe should have put them in a bag...)
22) Bottle and let sit for 3 weeks at room temp.
23) Chill and drink!

Hallertauer hops should be a good substitute. I use them in my hefeweizen. If you have 8 weeks, I would try to get your hands on the wheat extract balance you want...maybe go online. Wheat beers don't typically take that long anyway. The hefeweizen I am enjoying right now took 3 weeks from grain to glass.

I could probably just go back to the LHBS and exchange the 3.3 pale/pils LME for another 3.3 of Muntons Wheat if I wanted to. I think the original recipe was just worded poorly and the guy got crossed up. That would put the ratio in more of a hefe range (slightly tilted towards wheat instead of moderately tilted towards barley). But I'm also new to this and curious about what different combinations will taste like. If what I have will be good, I'd be inclined to roll with it, even if it isn't exactly what the recipe called for. Dad is certainly not a beer snob; I just started with something I knew he really liked and figured I'd work from there.